


drifting through the halls with the sunrise

by extasiswings



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Avocados at Law, Dorks in Love, F/M, Law School, Male-Female Friendship, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inevitably, one of the first things that happens in law school is that professors start to recommend study groups. Darcy’s knee-jerk reaction is something to the effect of, “I can study just fine on my own, thank you very much,” but there is some validity to the notion of, “You don’t know what you know until you’re explaining it to someone else,” and since she’s been studying with Matt and Foggy since undergrad, it’s not such a big deal to keep doing it for another three years. </p>
<p>(The law school days of Nelson, Murdock, and Lewis: Attorneys at Law, in which Darcy is very concerned with justice, Foggy doesn't know where he keeps going wrong, and Matt is very bad at feelings)</p>
            </blockquote>





	drifting through the halls with the sunrise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shuofthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuofthewind/gifts).



> Sometimes shu and I have conversations about this trio of dorks and the kind of shenanigans they probably got up to in law school and I couldn't quite help myself. So here is just under 1500 words of law school ridiculousness. 
> 
> For the record, the things they talk about are actually real things.
> 
> Happy Reading.

Inevitably, one of the first things that happens in law school is that professors start to recommend study groups. Darcy’s knee-jerk reaction is something to the effect of, “I can study just fine on my own, thank you very much,” but there is some validity to the notion of, “You don’t know what you know until you’re explaining it to someone else,” and since she’s been studying with Matt and Foggy since undergrad, it’s not such a big deal to plan to keep doing it for another three years.

Of course, the thing about study groups, especially in law school in a group of highly opinionated people, is that it’s easy to get sidetracked. Matt figures this out almost immediately when their first meeting is derailed by a debate about pronoun usage in the Torts casebook.

“I just don’t understand the point of it. Why use pronouns at all? The judge is always referred to as “the judge” so why is the plaintiff automatically “she” and the defendant “he”? It makes no sense,” Darcy remarks.

“Well, maybe they were just trying to make things easier,” Foggy points out.

“But why? Why not use “they” or “s/he?” Slashes are a fairly common practice in gender neutral academic writing these days, Foggy.”

“Slashes, Darce? Come on, the slash makes things look weird.”

“Oh, so it’s okay to have a pronoun usage that paints women exclusively as victims, but not to use gender neutral symbols because they look weird?”

(That’s the point at which Matt quietly excuses himself, because he’s not sure he could prevent himself from laughing at some point if he stayed and he’s known the two of them long enough to know when to let them work something out themselves. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from listening in once he’s settled at the coffee shop across the street, because he loves these idiots, really he does)

Then, there are days when the material they’re reviewing is just a little too controversial.

“It’s completely ridiculous that the state courts are almost exclusively the highest authority in property cases. Look at Moore! If he had been able to present his case to the Supreme Court, the entire history of property and health law could be different.”

“But the Supreme Court had to deny his petition, Darce. He went through all the proper channels, and ultimately, the Supreme Court of California decided that conversion wasn’t a valid cause of action.”

(Now, Matt’s usually rather opinionated as well, but in this case, he actually agrees with Darcy and doesn’t think any of the arguments he could bring up would be any better than hers, so he stays silent)

“Of course it was a valid cause of action! They patented a cell line based on his tissues for millions of dollars without even letting him know. Are you saying that’s okay, Franklin?”

“No need to pull out the full name. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter whether I think it’s okay or not, there wasn’t then and isn’t now any legal precedent to support the notion that cells are property once they’ve left the body.”

“Obviously there was some precedent since the Court of Appeal somehow managed to make their decision based on it. And even more, if the Supreme Court of California had ruled in Moore’s favor, they would have set a precedent. It would have been a test case.”

“And the Supreme Court decided those precedents weren’t applicable! Which, for the record, they were right to do. And test cases? Jesus, Darce, we can’t expect judges to rule the way we want just because we want them to create new law.”

“We can it it’s the right thing to do. Are you saying you think it’s right that Moore got totally ripped off because his doctor lied to him?”

“I’m saying that whether I think it’s right or not, the law, as it was then and is now, is still the law that we have to follow.”

“Well, it’s not very good law.”

“Oh, for—come on, Matt, back me up here.”

(He doesn’t, because although he recognizes the validity of an argument for following the letter of the law, he also thinks there’s something to be said for justice. Darcy kisses him on the cheek when she leaves and he knows Foggy is shaking his head behind him, but he can’t bring himself to care because she smells like sunshine and vanilla and the shirt she stole from him last week and as long as she doesn’t notice, it’s okay if he’s a little obvious sometimes)

It’s not only in their study group that debates happen either. They happen in class with exceeding regularity as well. In fairness, it’s not always one of the three of them who starts class debates, but one or more of them can usually be relied upon to get involved.

_(Matt comes home from class one day when Foggy stayed home sick with a stunned look on his face and all Foggy asks is, “What was the topic?”_

_“Patient’s rights.”_

_“Ah, yeah, she’s good at arguing about that. Who was it with?”_

_“Thompson.”_

_“He probably had it coming.)_

The thing is, Matt’s not an idiot. He knows full well that he’s in love with Darcy. It’s just that he has no plans to actually do anything about that fact. But the arguments don’t really help matters because whenever she’s arguing with someone, whether it’s in class or with Foggy in their study group, she’s just so…there’s something about her righteous anger over truth and justice that’s kind of really, extremely attractive.

So, that makes things difficult, because he really does try not to be obvious about his feelings, but sometimes, he’ll flush before he can stop himself, and it’s rare enough that she almost always notices, and she always asks if he’s alright, and it’s easy enough to make up explanations, but it would be easier if Foggy _would stop laughing in the background._

_(There’s one night in their 2L year when he and Foggy are out by themselves because Darcy is off studying for a class neither one of them is taking and Foggy’s had enough to drink that he just flat out asks, “So, is Darcy being angry like, a turn on for you, or what,” and Matt’s so surprised that he genuinely trips and has to catch himself on the stair railing._

_“I—what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”_

_“Oh, come on. You get all flustered whenever she’s on one of her defender of truth and justice tangents. I’m pretty sure the only reason she hasn’t realized is because she’s just as emotionally stunted as you sometimes.”_

_“I’m not—we’re not—you’re drunk, Foggy. You really have had too much if you’re hallucinating now.”_

_“Nope. Six years. Six years I’ve known you two losers. And six years I’ve been waiting for one or the other of you to admit that you’ve been pining since day one. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to watch the two of you dance around each other? You’re killing me, Murdock. Really, at this point, it’s sad.”_

_He passes out almost as soon as they get to their room, mercifully sparing Matt the rest of the conversation, but he can’t stop himself from thinking about it every time he looks at Darcy for the next three weeks)_

It never comes up though, his feelings, or hers—although he highly doubts Foggy was right about her having any to begin with—and at the end of three years, they graduate without incident. He and Foggy go off to Landman & Zack while they wait to hear back about the bar and Darcy goes into public interest.

(If he’s honest with himself, Matt envies her a little bit because it’s what he should be doing, what they all should be doing, because even if Foggy is a little more strict in regards to the letter of the law, he has the same sense of justice that Matt and Darcy do and L&Z is not the place for that)

When he quits L&Z and convinces Foggy to go with him, starting their own firm is the best idea. Darcy takes some convincing, but not much, and as they start making plans he thinks back to a night halfway through their 3L year, to a bar napkin with “Nelson, Murdock, and Lewis, Attorneys at Law” sketched onto it, and thinks _yes, yes this is how it was always supposed to be_.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Delilah" by Florence + the Machine


End file.
